The Flanderization of a single culture's cooking into a few recognizable tidbits. Handy for those who can't be bothered to do the research and whose experience with the cuisine in question is limited to visiting a few restaurants.

Americans' ideas of the cuisines of many cultures were originally based on the foods associated with immigrants from those countries, which is often different from what people actually ate back in the old country due to different ingredients being available and/or cheap (the classic example being the association between the Irish and corned beef and cabbage—in Ireland, it's back bacon and cabbage, but land-rich 19th-century America featured relatively cheap beef and relatively expensive bacon while in Ireland it was the other way 'round). Not to mention immigrant restaurant owners catering to American tastes, which has resulted in the creation of entire genres of food (Chinese-American, Tex-Mex, etc) which are actually foreign to the countries with which they are associated.

Examples by Culture

There is a culinary belt running from Nigeria to South Africa—roughly tracking the region settled by the Bantu-speaking peoples—where meals are based on a savory mashed starch paste/porridge (e.g. West African fufu made from yam, or Eastern African ugali and Southern African sadza, ns(h)ima, isitshwala, vuswa, bogobe, or pap, all names for paste made from maizenote Historically, this was made from finger millet, but maize is easier to grow and provides higher yields.) which you eat with your hands, wrapped around a "relish" of meat or vegetable stew. Some of these vegetables may be a bit odd, or—more often—unusual applications of familiar plants (e.g. West African egusi—i.e. the seeds of squashes, gourds, and melons—used in soups and sauces, or Southern African chibwabwa—pumpkin greens).

North Africa gets a slightly better press. They had the Muslim Middle East and then the French influence. Couscous, roasted vegetables, lamb... delicious, spicy curries... that yummy tea with mint in it.

Countries influenced by Spain are popular. Morocco has a bustling tourism industry based around eating, and Mediterranean hotels will serve at least one dish labelled "Moroccan" during every meal.

South Africa, at least for those who have met its white expats, is perceived to be all about the braai ("barbecue" or "cookout"note Read Cuisines In America for why you should never call a braai a "barbecue" around an American Southerner if you value your time or your ears. sums it up, but to a native Sed Efrrrrikan it is almost a religion, hedged about with ritual and formality). If it can be burnt on a braai, a South African will eat it. South Africa also gives the world biltong, best thought of as air-dried vinegar-cured jerky or pemmican, ideally based on exotic native lifeforms. And then there's mealiepap, i.e. the pap we talked about earlier (a native African element).

Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti, and Somalia share a common culinary heritage (although they argue about it a lot), and share a few traits: (1) a kind of spongy flatbread, called injera in Ethiopia and canjeero in Somalia, traditionally made from an odd cereal called teff but now made from other grains; (2) eating stewed meats and vegetables using this flatbread (utensils such as forks and knives aren't used) and often off of this flatbread (in many places, instead of a plate you'll have a wicker basket covered in a layer of the bread, upon which the stew is served); and (3) extreme spiciness.

The Maasai people of Kenya and Tanzania are famously cowherds and also famously both milk their cows and also bleed them into a gourd to have cow blood mixed with milk.

African-American "soul food" features many southern staples. There's also the stereotypical food preferences for fried chicken, collard greens, corn bread, watermelon, and Kool-Aid. The association of these foods with racist caricatures, however, has made it taboo to talk about them (especially watermelon—which is considered especially stereotypical). And an African-American that is not from the South will definitely not be amused.

Florida: Oranges oranges oranges. Citrus. Gator tail, catfish, and who knows what else in the swampy backwoods. Northern and Central Florida is a mix between Big-Easy and Deep South, Southern Florida and Tampa Bay has more Latin and Caribbean Cuisine. Emphasis on seafood all around. Also Key Lime pie, and fruity mixed drinks like margaritas and daiquiris.

New England: A general surfeit of fish and other seafood, especially cod. Clams, particularly in chowder form, are also popular, although locals actually like them fried as well. Lobster is popular enough, but not nearly to the degree tourist shops in Massachusetts and Maine would have you think. Irish cuisine is also popular due to the heavily Irish-American population.

Note: Boston has a healthy Italian population too and is a great place for Irish pubs and Italian restaurants. Street thugs of the Boston Irish persuasion will often be depicted drinking Guinness; that isn't entirely incorrect, but Sam Adams or Budweiser is just as likely.

Southern New England (particularly Rhode Island and Massachusetts' South Coast) has a huge Lusophone population, and therefore a lot of good Portuguese, Brazilian, and Cape Verdean home cooking. Rarely will this be seen in the media, although to be fair you don't see it much in real world restaurants either, apart from the occasional kale soup (caldo verde) special. Eat-till-you-explode Brazilian churrasquerias are becoming popular, though.

Philadelphia of course has its famous cheesesteaks, which reflect a partially Italian influence: the cheese was originally provolone (although American cheese and—most famously—Cheez Whiz have since overtaken it in popularity), and the bread is traditionally Italian rolls from one of a limited number of Philadelphia-area Italian bakeries (Amoroso's being the most famous), which are quite distinctive (they're a bit salty, for one thing).

Submarine sandwiches are properly called "hoagies" in Philadelphia (and other parts of Southeastern Pennsylvania, as well as South Jersey and most of New Castle County, Delaware), and are also properly made on the Philly-area Italian roll used for cheesesteaks.

Midwest: Dairy products and hamburgers. Minnesotan/Norwegian lutefisk. Hotdish/casserole in the upper Great Lakes area. Dessert bars, such as lemon, peanut butter and chocolate chip. Super-flat St. Louis-style pizza is some sort of national joke, even though most major pizza chains now carry similar thin-crust pizza.

Kansas City: Barbecue ... and beef in general, as the city was one of the more prominent stopping points for cattle drives from Texas. Anthony Bourdain from the page quote has rated Oklahoma Joe's, a BBQ joint in (and we are Not Making This Up) a gas station, as one of his "13 Places to Eat Before You Die" and says "It's the best BBQ in Kansas City, which automatically makes it the best BBQ in the world."

Chicago-style hot dogs and deep dish pizza are iconic of the city. Polish food is also common, due to the large Polish-American population.

Detroit and Chicago are both known for their Polish cuisine, such as kielbasa and pączki (the latter of which is universally consumed in Detroit on Fat Thursday, or really any time in the week leading up to Lent).

Upper Peninsula of Michigan: Pasties, ya? (Get your mind out of the gutter—see the bit about Britain below.) Also, Mackinac Island—between the UP and LP—has its famous fudge (it may be stereotypically touristic, but it is delicious).

California - Any dish with "California" in its name means it has avocado, which is plentiful and popular there. "California cuisine" is generally known for fusion and extreme artiness, such as "orange-scented carnitas with blackberry salsa and creme fraiche remoulade". Lots of fresh vegetarian dishes. California wine country also provides loads of quality local wines. In southern California, fish tacos (fried or grilled fish fillets and something resembling cole slaw folded into a tortilla).

Bay Area: sourdough bread, emphasis on seafood near Fisherman's Wharf, Chinese and Japanese food prevalent. Also contains the namesake for the "Mission-style" giant burrito.

Texas - a lot of food associated with the Deep South, plus "Tex-Mex" and lots of barbecue. Steaks. Giant steaks.

New York - deli food, bagels, and baked ziti. Extremely greasy yet inexplicably delicious thin-crust pizza is somehow associated with Brooklyn — examplars Grimaldi's and DiFara's are in Brooklyn, though Lombardi's, arguably the home of New York style pizza, is in Manhattan's Lower East Side. Note to outsiders: Though thin, the pizza is flexible. Fold it, it allows you to eat it like a civilized human being.

New York City's ability to have just about any ethnic restaurant, for any nationality you can think of.

Buffalo is famous for chicken wings, also their spicy, greasy sauce.

Maryland - crab cakes: blue crabs and Old Bay Seasoning.

Washington, DC - Half-smokes (large, spicy hot dog-like sausages made of a coarsely-ground mix of smoked beef and smoked pork). The pizza is in the same style as New York, but not nearly as good, so it makes up for it by being three times larger. Sometimes the pizza and half-smokes are combined by rolling the latter up in the former—this combination is popular among late-night revelers (which, given that DC is one of the youngest cities in America, are quite common).

Due to the Mormonism, the cuisine of Utah is based around potluck and frontier foods (like funeral potatoes, boiled chicken, corn niblets and such) that have long gone out of fashion elsewhere. Also, Jello, Utah consumes more Jello (in the form of grated cheese Jello salads, etc) than the rest of the US combined.

Colorado, either wild game (venison, and buffalo especially) or if in Boulder, hippie granola and tofu.

Southwest: Mexican food, brought in by Mexican-American immigrants. Chipotle and corn as ingredients. Expect to find cilantro (which looks like parsley and tastes, at least to people with a certain gene, like cheap gas station restroom hand soap smells) in everything if you don't specifically ask for it to be left out.

Australian: Somewhat like Britain, but with Vegemite and beer. Emphasis on the beer. Also "shrimp on the barbie", though most real Australians use the term "prawn".

Another advertising-related food fail: though internationally Foster's is advertised as being 'Australian for beer', it hasn't been popular in Australia since the 1970s, and isn't even available at most Australian pubs.

Sausage sizzles, kebabs (especially at 3 in the morning), spag bol and fish and chips.

The infamous Meat Pie Floater, essentially a pastry case full of un-named meat floating upside down in a container of mushy peas.

Austrian: Similar to Germany, but add Wiener Schnitzel, apple strudel, and maybe Sachertorte. If you're really lucky, coffeehouses will be a setting.

Belgium. Beer (often from a small brewery), "French" friesnote originally "French-fried" potatoes, meaning "deep-fried" and chocolates. Waffles, which are common in Belgium and come in a bewildering array of styles and flavors.note However, what Americans and Canadians call "Belgian waffles" are an amalgamation of the Brussels and Liège styles common in Belgium. More knowledgeable folks will remember to dip the fries in a mayonnaise-based sauce and include a big bucket of mussels. These knowledgable people will also know about Belgium's numerous other dishes (e.g. waterzooi, a kind of chicken or fish stew with cream and leeks), and will have this general verdict on Belgian food: All the quality of French food without the pretense; all the homeyness of British and Dutch food without the blandness.

Brazilian: Meat, meat, meat, black beans, meat, rice, collard greens, meat, beans, and meat. And cheese. And meat. (There's also a wide selection of Afro-Brazilian and seafood dishes, but those are irrelevant to the stereotype. The substantial cuisines derived from European and Asian immigrants, contributing popular dishes like São Paulo-style pizza and temaki, will get ignored too.)

British: Considered The Scrappy of cuisines by the Americans, French and Italians among others. As portrayed, British cuisine has three types of dish: bland (e.g. fish and chips), disgusting (e.g. blood pudding and haggis), and bland and disgusting (e.g. mushy peas, warm beer). Oh—and don't forget the tea. Lots and lots of tea. A more specific breakdown follows, but first:

Have you ever eaten English cookery? Oh, you have. Have you ever TASTED English cookery? I thought not!

English: Roast beef and Yorkshire pudding (the French actually nickname them 'les rosbifs'), especially at Sunday lunch.note This is somewhat Newer Than They Think: although roast beef and Yorkshire pudding are quite old, and eating roast beef with just Yorkshire pudding is similarly old (as Yorkshire pudding arose as a way of using beef dripping, the two go together), eating the combination with potatoes on Sunday was only really cemented by that great lover of food Edward VII. Scones to go with the Spot of Tea. Fish and chips to be served with the mushy peas and malt vinegar. The beer should actually be "cellar temperature" - i.e. kept in the cold, but not refrigerated (this applies to bitter but not lager; like everyone else, the British refrigerate their lager). Pies (meat pies, that is) are very big Oop North, while in the Southwest pasties (semi-circular pie-like savoury pastries, typically filled with beef, potato, swede, and onion, but often containing other ingredients, historically created as a portable meal for miners in the Southwest's innumerable minesnote Which is why they're popular in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan; the UP has/had major deposits of copper and iron ore, and small but significant deposits of silver, and Cornish miners immigrated during the 19th century UP mining boom, bringing their pasties with them.) are bigger (asking whether Devon or Cornwall invented them is a good way to start a war).

However, there is one place the English kitchen shines: desserts, particularly anything involving custards and (sweet) puddings. This is accepted wisdom across Europe; for example, the Italians have a popular dessert called zuppa inglese (literally "English soup"; don't ask why it's called a "soup"), which came about because some Italian nobs had visited the courts of Elizabeth I and the early Stuarts and loved the trifle. Even the French (grudgingly) admit it: there's a reason they call a custard sauce crème anglaise.

Scottish: There's the perception that they deep-fry everything. They do; don't make the mistake of asking for a pie and chips in a Scottish takeaway. They also have porridge, haggisnote Made from sheep's heart, liver, and lungs, ground up with oats, suet, onions, and spices and stuffed into the animal's stomach (or, these days, an artificial sausage casing). This isn't as bad as it's made out to be; it's basically a thick, short mutton sausage flavoured with onion. Compared to a hot dog or even your standard British banger, a haggis is positively wholesome. (which they will also gladly deep-fry) and shortbread (which they probably won't). Whisky should always be spelled that way.Do not ever suggest it isn't better than Irish whiskey.

Welsh: Lamb, and of course Welsh rarebit (more authentically Welsh rabbit, which is a joke and makes more sense), a thick sauce of cheese, beer and mustard, spread on toast and browned under the grill. Cheese in general (especially Caerphilly, the only Welsh cheese most can name)—the English have been joking about the Welsh fondness for cheese since at least the 16th century. Lesser known are "laver" (a type of seaweed, often used to make "laver bread"—which is kind of nonindicative, as it consists of laver boiled and minced till it turns to jelly, rolled in oatmeal, and then fried) and cawl (a type of meat and vegetable stew, also used as the modern Welsh word for "soup").

A more general one for all British countries (plus Ireland) is "Breakfast": the greasy kind with bacon, eggs, potatoes, sausages, and tomatoes all cooked in bacon fat, plus baked beans and local bread (possibly toasted in bacon fat) and a slice of fried black pudding (probably cooked in bacon fat). Each region has its own variation (for instance, the Welsh include cockles and laver bread—both of which are rather likely to be fried in bacon fat—while the Scots occasionally use haggis for the sausage, and in both Northern Ireland and the Republic the bread is usually soda bread), but to quote W. Somerset Maugham:

"To eat well in England you should have breakfast three times a day."

Black Pudding is appalling to look at but is thoroughly delicious. The Irish have a counterpart of White Pudding which is also much nicer than it looks. Just don't enquire about the ingredients.

Another all-British dish is Anglicized curry (just called curry there). It differs greatly from traditional Indian curry in that it almost always contains meat and almost never contains lentils. Also beef curry is possible to find which is something you would pretty much never find in India (beef-friendly places like Goa aside). In fact, some British firms now export dishes such as chicken tikka masala to India, where it is seen as a luxury import.

Our most popular highball cocktail also came from the Indian Colonies, Gin and Tonic, which was invented to combat malaria. (Tonic water used to contain quinine a very effective medicine for malaria, and gin was added because it's lovely.note Well, actually, because it's easier to get soldiers to take their medicine if they can get drunk while doing so. Or, alternatively, because there is some strange alchemy involved in which the vileness of gin and the loathsomeness of tonic water somehow cancel each other out and you're left with a drink that is, against all common sense, actually palatable.)

In the culinary challenge Come Dine with Me, in which five carefully selected random strangers living in a chosen British town are brought together to plan and serve dinner parties for each other, various American expats in Englad have featured and while some were polite about it, an American resident in Bristol (home of the edible faggot) frankly said the biggest ordeal was going to be eating disgusting British food on four successive nights.

British food can't be all bad. One of Adam Richman's rather disgusting big-eats challenges, in Man v. Food was at a British diner in Florida that did thriving business - to Americans as well as Brits on holiday - serving fish and chips, cod cooked in a beer batter. Essentially British fast food cooked in American super-super-mega-size quantities. To Brits, one deep fried fish fillet is an ample sufficiency. Adam had to eat eight. But he thought it was delicious.

In recent years, London has emerged as a trendy restaurant spot, and a number of celebrity chefs, including Gordon Ramsay and Jamie Oliver, have come to prominence, so the U.K.'s culinary reputation looks poised to change.note Truth be told, European connoisseurs have grudgingly begun to admit that several cities not historically known for cuisine—particularly London, Brussels, and the Scandinavian capitals of Copenhagen, Stockholm, and Oslo—have begun to attract a diverse and very creative and experimental culinary community that arguably makes them a better place to eat than the more traditional "culinary capitals" of Europe.

Poutine is depicted as a national cuisine although it's actually a very regional dish specific to Québec. The poutine available elsewhere in the country is a fast-food variant made with processed cheese and instant gravy.

Specific to Montreal, smoked meat and bagels, which are different from the smoked meat and bagels of New York. Just as the New Yorker will argue with the Chicagoan as to whose pizza is better, he will argue with the Montrealer over bagels and smoked meat.

What poutine is to Quebec, the donair is to Atlantic Canada, especially Halifax.

The most persistent myth is that all Chinese food is the same, despite being a huge (and diverse) country in both population and size. The stuff you get in Chinese restaurants is mostly Cantonese, with a bit of Szechuan and Hunan. Aside from that, the takeout food will always be presented as the genuine article. It does not remotely resemble true Chinese cuisine.

Within China, dishes from Sichuan are stereotyped as being spicy enough to set things on fire yet leaving a pleasant tingly sensation on the lips, while the stuff from Hunan is considered the super-spicy, oily, garlicky peasant food that everyone has to like because Chairman Mao said so. The Beijing food is so boring as to not have any special dish (except the much mocked Peking duck), the Northerners as the ones who seems to subsist entirely on beef and noodles, while the Southerners are the ones who would eat anything not nailed down. With respect to this last: the oft-quoted joke about the Chinese eating "everything with four legs that is not a table, everything that swims that is not a submarine, and everything that flies and is not an airplane" is actually an adaptation of a joke Northern Chinese told about Southerners and particularly Cantonese (i.e. people from Guangdong Province); in a map compiling searches Chinese people make about China's provinces, the most common search for Guangdong was "eats monkeys". And those from Inner Mongolia are the ones who seems to be overly fond of their sheep, and let us not speak about those from Tibet and their yaks...

Many Americans believe the myth about how Mongolian Barbeque originated in Mongolia. Allegedly, the Mongolian Warriors of olden times were said to overturn their shields and used them as makeshift woks to stir fry the meat and vegetables over a fire. Actually, Mongolian BBQ originated in Taiwan and has its roots in Japanese teppanyaki. Actual Mongolian cuisine is hearty stews, dairy, and mutton is heavily influenced by Russian cuisine. Due to the cold climate, there are very few vegetables (other than tubers and roots) and even fewer spices. The restaurant owners (who are usually Asian and actually do know better) bear the brunt of the blame as they tend to be the source of some of this misinformation, and name their restaurants after the likes of Genghis Khan and such. The spicy Chinese takeout dish Mongolian Beef is also not related in any way to authentic Mongolian cuisine. "Mongolian grill"— and the related dish Mongolian beef—is indeed the invention of the Hui people, a completely sinicized Central Asian group that has nothing different from Han except for being Muslims.

Grolsch (and Heineken) beer - even though the Netherlands has a wide variety of beers and the above mentioned aren't particularly popular compared to Amstel or Hertog Jan.

French: Considered the 'king of cuisines' by the culinary world's version of artistes (with all the pretentiousness that comes with it). The Hollywood version tends to involve lots of baguettes, and wines and cheeses with funny names. And snails (called 'escargot' over there). And frogs. And the eponymous fries (which are, in France, associated with Belgium) and toast (unknown in France as suchnote The French do have pain perdu—literally "lost bread"—which is virtually identical in preparation, and which they do in fact eat for breakfast at times. However, French pain perdu is also often made with fancypants ingredients (including better bread and interesting flavoring for the batter/dip) and accompaniments like chocolate sauce and ice cream to be consumed as a dessert. Tidbit: Pain perdu is also a staple of New Orleans Creole and Louisiana Cajun cuisine; like the French, Louisianans eat pain perdu both as breakfast and as dessert or a snack.). Any French restaurant will invariably be called Chez Something or Other and be full of happy dining couples; the waiter will be a condescending jerk. At least one of two things will happen: the Fish out of Water American tourist struggles with the unfamiliar pronunciation, food and dining etiquette; and when the bill comes, it will be immense.

A subset of french haute cuisine is "la nouvelle cuisine", which tends to be served in ultramodern and trendy restaurants where all the food are fussily overprepared and plated like works of art (which is kind of an odd view considering that true nouvelle cuisine is all about natural flavors and eschewing the fussiness and overpreparation of traditional French cooking), but the portions are so small that the meal can probably be eaten in 5 minutes if you don't talk too much.

Finland: An overheard joke about Finnish food during the Finnish Presidency of the EU by the French President appears to have been pivotal in the awarding of the Olympic Games to London when the offended Finns reportedly changed their intended votes. What was served up at the meal in question wasn't reported...

German: Beer, sausages, beer, sauerkraut, beer, black bread, and beer. Sauerkraut is actually more popular in Russia and Poland, but is strongly associated with Germany (to the point that "kraut" became an ethnic slur), where again it is mostly served only in parts of the south. Everything will be extremely heavy and fattening, and so will the people eating it. Sausages and black whole-grain bread—especially rye—are also stereotypical, with "sausage-eater" being a secondary slur for Germans;note In fact, Poles and Russians, who eat even more sauerkraut than the Germans, never used it in their victual mud-slinging, and prefer to call the Germand "sausage-eaters". Germans don't care, and proudly inform you that Germany has over 1500 kinds of sausage and 300 kinds of bread, so you could have a different combination daily for ten years and not repeat once. Expect massive steins being served by buxom maidens in dirndls to men in lederhosen. Also beer and Schnapps. Pretzels (when those aren't associated with Pennsylvania...but then, Pennsylvania got them from the Germans, so it all comes together in the end). Beer!

In Bavaria, beer will only ever be served in 1 liter "Maß" glasses, while in Cologne, they only ever drink "Kölsch" 1/5 liter glasses. There seems to be at least some Truth in Television to that one.

Oh, and for dessert: It will be Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte (Black Forest cake/gâteau), or nothing. This is not truth in television.

Greek: Other than gyros, tends to get confused with Italian, even though it's closer to Middle Eastern. Souvlaki, moussaka and spanakopita will be heard of, but not elaborated upon. Also, olives, yoghurt and goat's cheese. Baklava. Kebabs. And garlic. At one time, Greek-Americans were said to be self-conscious about the amount of garlic in Greek food, but no one really minds anymore. To drink there is ouzo.

And avgolemono. And lots of lamb. Contrary to popular opinion, falafel is not Greek.

Hungarian: Goulash, goulash, goulash. Which actually applies to an entirely different food; the version Americans (and even other Europeans) know is The Theme Park Version and is a stew, not a soup. Paprika colours everything red. If there is wine, it will be Tokaji.

Goulash (or, in Hungarian, gulyasleves) isn't eaten that often. More popular staple foods would be Langos (sort of a deep-fried pizza with sour cream) or anything with straight-up lard, mostly plain bread. Sour cherries predominate in desserts.

Historically goulash indeed started as a stew that the cattle drivers (gulyas in Hungarian means "herdsman") cooked on their stops, but as it moved upscale and into an urban cuisine it became progressively more liquid, until it ended as a soup in modern times. There are also variation stews like pörkölt, where the meat is first roasted with paprika (its very name means "roasted"), and paprikas, where the tomato is often omitted entirely, and which is thickened by a sour cream.

Generally Hungarian cuisine is thought of as spicy (see paprika), which is true to some extent but its other dominating taste is sour in every possible combination (see references to sour cream or sour cherries before; but also sauerkraut, pickled whatever etc.).

Corned beef and cabbage, contrary to American belief are actually Irish-American staples, due to poor Irish immigrants flocking to Jewish delis (bacon and cabbage is much more traditional in Ireland itself.)

Indian: Tends to be so spicy it burns a hole in the diner's guts (somewhat Truth in Television). Or curry. Lots and lots of curry. British TV tends to take a more charitable view of Indian food since it's now a staple food over there. And even then, it's usually the generic version of North-West Indian food seen in restaurants. Also noted for not containing beef.

Italian: Pasta, pasta, and more pasta. Sometimes even pizza, too, if that isn't thrown into American cuisine instead. Standard dishes also include spaghetti with meatballs (although Italians eat both spaghetti and meatballs, the combination of the two in one course is strictly Italian-American; if it's ever made in Italy, it's because of Disney) and its close relative, spaghetti alla bolognese (crumbled ground beef added to the tomato sauce... which are considered near-sacrilegious by the people who actually live in Bologna, who make ragù with mixed meats and serve it with tagliatelle - that is, ribbon-shaped egg pasta). Like the French, Italians love wine, and can frequently be seen holding tiny cups of ridiculously strong espresso. And "espresso" is actually known in Italy simply as caffè.

Note particularly the curious use of "Tuscan" to describe some mass-market Italian food in the United States — in actual fact, Tuscan food only faintly resembles Italian-American (or for that matter southern Italiannote from which most Italian-American cooking is ultimately derived, particularly Neapolitan and Sicilian) cooking at all, and is best known in Italy for beans, wild game, and curiously saltless bread. This will never, ever come up in most depictions of Italian food.

"Tusci" was an alternative Latin name for the Etruscans,note To the point that in his Discourses on Livy, Niccolò Machiavelli, writing in Italian, regularly refers to the Etruscans as the "Tuscans," to the confusion of many modern readers. To some degree, this is reflective of Machiavelli's Roman fanboyism, but it's also important to realize that the people he was writing for were Florentines, and of course Florence is the main center of modern Tuscany. the people Romans took much if not most of their original culture from, so Tuscany, as their ancestral homeland, keeps some of the mot archaic dishes and cooking technicques in all of Italy. Because of its heavily rustic character an unlikeness to what everyone usually calls "Italian", it just tended to get under the radar of the most foor writers until recently.

Important note: The "New York style" pizza common on the East Coast of the US is reasonably close in style to something you might find in Italy, being a Neapolitan-leaning intermediate form between Neapolitan and Roman pizza (it's thicker than Roman but thinner than Neapolitan; it is also flexible like Neapolitan pizza and otherwise leans closer to the Neapolitan in other areas). The only really Americanized thing about it is the tendency to put more cheese, partly because Americans love cheese and partly because the US Department of Agriculture encourages the use of as much cheese as possible (which reinforces the American love of cheese, etc...).note Technically, the use of American-made cheese, which can be rather different from Italian mozzarella, is also a difference, but given that shipping mozzarella is difficult, use of local options is easily excused. And of course, there's non-traditional toppings, but those are (1) understood to be non-traditional even in America and (2) the Italians have gotten in on that game as well. Not quite the same, but closer than the pizza anywhere else (except maybe certain parts of South America with large Italian populations like São Paulo and Buenos Aires). The thick, doughy, cheesy stuff came as a result of Italian-Americans in the Midwest hybridizing the thick Sicilian sfinciuni with Neapolitan pizza.

Jamaican: Jerk chicken, jerk sauce, fried plantains, and rice and beans. Jokes about "jerk" food and the goat stew called "mannish water" may abound. Will often be applied to other Caribbean islands too.

Japanese: Like Chinese, except with raw fish!

Sushi! Which everyone still thinks is nothing but raw fish (strictly speaking, "sushi" is just the rice; it doesn't have to include fish at all)!

Japanese media has a peculiar obsession with curry (wich is absolutely unlike the Indian one, and is closer to the British version, originating from the galleys of the British-built Japanese battleships in the early 20th century) and ramen, to the point that all other noodles in the Japanese cuisine (even natively Japanese ones, like the buckwheat soba and the thick wheat udon) do not exist.

As do the homecooked dishes like the humbly nikujaga (a beef-and-potato stew with a sweet soy sauce) and tonjiru (a pork and potato miso soup), which feed more people than any other elaborate preparations. They might be shown, but are never elaborated upon, unless that's a point, like with nabemono (hotpot) dishes, that, as communal affairs, are usually used as a shorthand for the Power of Friendship.

Interestingly, meat dish used to be uncommon in Korea, if only because meat of all kinds was in very short supply. Spicy Korean food is a recent invention, with the chili pepper being a New World crop that has only been introduced in 17th century and initially looked down upon as a strange foreign product.

Also, Spam. In the West, it's considered a mildly-disgusting Mystery Meat. In Korea, it's considered a luxury item. It helps that the meat in Korean-made Spam is of a much higher quality than American Spam. One of the "staple national recipes" of Korea is "budae jjigae" or "army base stew", since during the Korean War, Spam imported from United States was literally the only meat that could be found anywhere, so that's what they used.

Tacos, burritos, enchiladas, chalupas, etc, are all forms of culinary origami; which is which mostly depends how you fold up the tortilla around the other ingredients.note "Mostly," because burritos, being from the wheat-growing North of Mexico, are further distinguished by always being made with wheat-flour tortillas rather than the maize-based tortillas more common further south and commonly—although not always—used for the other dishes.

Cuisines of other Spanish-speaking countries in the Americas will often be lumped together with Mexico. Especially ridiculous considering the cuisines of other countries such as Peru, Argentina, Colombia, and Cuba do not resemble Mexican cuisine that strongly. (They have some ingredients and dishes in common, but no more than most European countries have some ingredients and dishes in common.)

Cuisines of other Latin-American countries tend to closely resemble Spanish food with of course variations between countries and especially local ingredients. Many of these are sometimes present in Mexican food such as the flan and the empanada. Rice and beans are a staple much like the Jamaica example above.

The closer you get to Cancun or other Mexican coasts the closer you get to showing tequila and margaritas (and sometimes a Mezcal worm in the tequila—which you will never see in true tequila, being a characteristic of lower-quality mezcals). In American Mexican restaurants "Cancun" and "Acapulco" can suggest seafood, especially fish tacos or any of the above Mexican dishes with fish, shrimp, or other seafood as a filling.

Middle Eastern: Either gets lumped in with Indian food or consists of barely edible kebabs made from bits of animal that even dogs won't eat. If you got lucky and your writer has actually been to the Middle East, there will be falafel, hummus (which is becoming more popular in the US), tabbouleh, and pita bread. Turkish coffee may make an appearance (note: to protect your ears and brain, do not discussthe appropriatenessof its name).

Also, never make any assertions about the origins of baklava, sweet mint tea, the fried dough dessert the Greeks call loukoumades, that thing Arabs call shawerma, or any number of other dishes.

Then again, "falafel" is an inherently funny word, which ups its chances of being namedropped in media, whether the writer in question has eaten it or not.

Arab, Iranian and even Afghan food will not be distinguished; in reality they are quite different and it's debatable whether the last two countries count as Middle Eastern at all.

Armenia, as the meeting-point of Europe, the Middle East and Asia, has the original "fusion cuisine" bringing together the best ideas of everyone who's ever passed through. A typical Armenian mixed platter might carry foodstuffs familiar to Iranian, Iraqi, Lebanese, Turkish, Russian cuisine, as well as pleasing hints of countries further to the East. Of course, Armenia beingArmenia, all the dishes are associated with someone else, although sometimes apricotsnote Scientific name Prunus armeniaca (and therefore, rice with apricots) and lavash are assigned to Armenian cuisine.

In the Middle East, everyone has stereotypes of each other's food:

Lebanese: The French of the Middle East, they make almost everything better than everyone else in the region and they know it.note It helps them a bit on this front that (1) they were influenced and then ruled by the actual French for a good 80 years or so, (2) their accent, even without the French influence, has a pleasantly airy quality that sounds rather French regardless of its origins, and (3) as a coastal country at a historical crossing point, Lebanon had an opportunity to absorb culinary influences from all over and refine them into something tasty. Fortunately, they aren't quite as stuck-up (years of being everybody else's political chewtoy will do that to you), and Lebanese restaurants are at least as likely to be fast-food places as high-class. They like to grill more than anyone else in the world, except maybe the Americans and some of the South Americans—but then, many of the South Americans are Lebanese. Noted for their fondness for garlic, lemon, yogurt and raw meat.

Syrian: Like Lebanese, but less refined and perhaps a bit more robust/heartier. Actually, this is the stereotype of Syria in general.

Saudi/Gulf: Meat. Fatty, roasted meat. Especially camel. Especially, especially camel hump (which is mostly fat). Served in large portions with ungodly amounts of rice. Or in other words, kabsa.

Israeli: Do not discuss Israeli cuisine anywhere in the Middle East that isn't Israel. They will characterize Israeli cuisine the same way Mark Twain once characterized a manuscript: "both original and good, but what's originally Israeli is terrible, and what's good is stolen! From us!" For their part, Israelis would accept that a lot of their cuisine is borrowed, but would refute the claim that all of it was borrowed from the Middle East—some of it was borrowed from Central and Eastern Europe. In all seriousness, however, Israel does have quite a few good culinary innovations, and although not all of them are all that great (even an Israeli will give a foreigner a pass for not liking mud coffeenote The so-called "bots", also known as "Polish coffee" in Europe — most Ashkenasi Jews repatriated from Poland, y'know, — where the coffee is brewed directly in the cup and is never poured off the dregs.), some are quite worthwhile (e.g. ptitim—so-called "Israeli couscous"—and Meurav Yerushalmi). Furthermore, it is true that "Israeli cuisine" in (e.g.) America means "Middle Eastern, but prepared by Jews". Israelis are also known to take masochistic pride in excessively vinegary and salty foods; that's one way to be sure it's Kosher. Eating it is as solemn a rite as confessional. On the other hand, the Israeli version of "Hollywood Israeli" cuisine is weirdly self-deprecating — the only things they really point to as being uniquely Israeli are turkey schnitzel, chickpea falafelnote :No fava beans as it might be made elsewhere in the area — some European Jews are violently allergic to favas., and a particular style of chopped salad that was created by the early kibbutzniks (which is in fact a common pan-European vegetable salad, just chopped to the point of turning into a homogenous mass). Also, harissa (from North Africa) and s'khug (from Yemen), truly terrifying hot sauces rivaled only by southeast Asian sambal and some of the more masochistic products of the US and various Caribbean islands.

Yemeni: Usually, gets blank stares, although some might get that it's spicy right (see: s'khug, which was invented in Yemen and taken to Israel by Yemenite Jews). Writers who have done the research comment on its diversity, and often swear that the Yemeni kitchen is better than the Lebanese. In this sense, it might be helpful to think of Yemeni as the Italian cuisine to the Lebanese French.

Iraqi: Like their neighbors, but not as good.

Iranian: Pilaf, lavash, lamb, and thick omelets. If the writers know what they're talking about, they'll mention an obsession with saffron and roses. And pomegranate. And walnut. In fact the pomegranate syrup and ground walnut are key ingredients in the Iranian cooking, and are used as the European cook would use the tomato and wheat flour respectively. The lamb or chicken stewed with the pomegranate concentrate and thickened with the ground walnut is even considered a national dish of Iran. Even more knowledgeable one would note the heavy influence of the Russian cuisine to the northern parts — Iranians still use the samovar long after it went out of fashion in Russia, and their version of the Olivier salad is indistinguishable from the Russian one.

Egyptian: Foul medemmes (slow-cooked fava beans, eaten for breakfast), bread, koshary, bread, excessive pride over falafel, molokheyya, and bread.note The Egyptian Arabic word for "bread" is the same as the word for "life". Language may not equal thought, but it comes damn close. Also known for overboiled pasta and vegetables (often drenched in tomato sauce)note The penchant for overboiling is generally believed to be a result of the fact that Egypt is a wonderful place for things to grow, which unfortunately includes deadly bacteria, and thus Egyptians learned early that the more you boil your veggies, the less likely you are to get sick. The addition of tomato sauce makes eating overcooked veggies acceptable; Lord knows what Egyptians did before the arrival of the tomato. and for frying anything that will sit still long enough—particularly vegetables, including some stranger ones (cauliflower?).

Afghan: Goat? Maybe? (It's actually rather like Pakistani, but less spicy, with a lot of Iranian influence.)

Outside of Hollywood, bigos may appear — a kind of a sauerkraut/sausage stew. Pierogi will appear if you're lucky. Otherwise, expect the usual stereotypes of Poles drinking a lot and eating potatoes and kasza (buckwheat groats).

When pierogis do appear there is much rejoicing, they're quite popular with anyone even slightly familiar with Polish food.

People from certain parts of the American Midwest—especially around Detroit—may also know paczki (basically, jelly doughnuts).

Russian: Other than vodka and borscht, Hollywood doesn't know much about Russian food. Caviar might be mentioned. Whatever the case, it will be of poor quality and probably served in massive canteens, as if it were still Soviet days.

And then, even the borscht is actually Ukrainian.

Not according to the half-a-dozen other nations who claim they invented it.

And Poles claim they invented the vodka.

Never ever mention this if you want to escape Internet Backdraft. Or remain in a sound mind, because in Real Life such discussions inevitably end up in a drinking competition. And both Poles and Russians consider Americans incredible lightweights - with some basis in reality.

"Russian dressing" is a French invention that has absolutely nothing to do with Russian cuisine. It was called such because originally it contained caviar, a stereotypically Russian ingredient.

Pelmeni (dumplings with a variety of fillings, usually meat) may mistakenly be called pierogies. They are not remotely similar (pierogi are also called varenniki in Ukraine and Russia, and are definitely not to be confused with leniwe (lazy) pierogi, which are more like gnocchi).

Confusingly, the word "pirog" ("пирог") simply means "pie" in Russian and refers to baked dishes, not dumplings (baked turnovers are called pirozhki, the diminutive form). To add more confusion pirozhki may be deep-fried as well.

Lots and lots of soup  of which there is a bewildering variety. It's not a proper meal if there wasn't some soup. Though only borscht is remembered by Hollywood (add shchi if you're very lucky).

Germans might remember shchi better, if only because of the bilingual joke involved; they said that Catherine the Great was the only person ever to make eight spelling mistakes in a two-letter word (you see, she was German-born and the word is spelled "щи" in Russian and "schtschi" in German).

Solyanka became a staple of East German cuisine after 1945 and is still quite popular there, although the German version tends to contain more meat than most solyankas you get in Russia.

On the Internet Russians are often portrayed as mayonnaise fiends. They are, Russia leads the mayonnaise consumption in Europe, and Russians use mayo with everything, just like the Yanks do with ketchup (which they also like). They even use it instead of sour cream and/or bechamelnote Helped by the fact that the modern processed mayo is more of a bechamel than the mayonnaise, with its starch and gum thickeners, and if a recipe calls for the oil and egg yolk, they will try to replace them with mayo to simplify cooking. Sometimes it even works.

Just like with Germans, everything is coarse, greasy and fattening (when available).

And meatballs (which are exclusively Swedish in Hollywood Cuisine, although Finns make them too in real life).

Note that in Babylon 5 G'kar confirmed that every intellegent spicies in the galaxy had their own version (with its own unique name) of Swedish Meatballs similar to Douglas Adams's assertion that every intellegent species in the galaxy had their own version (again with its own unique but somehow phonetically similar name) of gin and tonic (in the Douglas Adams version, the only similarity is the name and the fact that it's a beverage; the actual drink varies from tap water to industrial chemicals). One may be a shout out to the other but YMMV.

Occasionally lutefisk will garner a mention, of only for its Squicktasticness. The same but more so for Icelandic hakarl (a particular kind of shark, fermented to get rid of toxic levels of ammonia) and Swedish surströmming (fermented herring that bloats the can it's packed in — not to be eaten indoors).

Although these days, lutefisk is more a Norwegian American (and particularly Norwegian Minnesotan) thing, if Garrison Kiellor is to be believed.

At least in Finland, it's more of a seasonal thing associated with Christmas.

Smörgåsbord/koldtbord: a large buffet, popularly depicted as being filled with all kinds of everything. While a real smörgåsbord is indeed a sort of buffet, it contains some specific dishes: pickled herring and bread and butter are necessary, with cold cut and smoked meats being frequently seen. In general, the smörgåsbord is intended to be protein-packed, thus potatoes and other staple foods are rare.

Apart from hakarl, almost nothing is ever said about Icelandic cuisine, which is kind of a shame, as Icelandic yogurt — skyr — is delicious.

Within the Nordic countries (Scandinavia+Finland+Iceland+Danish colonies), these are the stereotypes:

Denmark: Dairy. Oh, so much dairy. Particularly cheese and butter. Also Danish pastries (which use lots of butter and may use cheese). And Danish butter cookies. And rødgrød med fløde (a kind of berry-cherry pudding topped with fresh cream; the name is so hard for foreigners to pronounce that Danes use it as a shibboleth, or at least an amusing tongue-twister). All in all very fattening.

Sweden: Especial fanaticism about smörgåsbord and its friends; a fixation on bizarre flavors (e.g. the aforementioned surströmming), combinations, and expressions (see: smörgåstarte); an obsession with mayonnaise.

Norway: Bland.

Finland: Good bread and random things from the wild.

Iceland: Really weird things, like the aforementioned hakarl but also singed sheep's head, cured seal flippers, and various testicles. Also seafood. And skyr.

Faroe Islands: Whale.

Greenland: They have food in Greenland?

Spanish: Is the same as Mexican. If cursory research has been done, paella, chorizo or gazpacho might be mentioned. For some reason tapas are thought of as classy food for the intellectual hipster.

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